Yes, the town is only 3 thousand people - same size that I grew up in. Main difference is the consolidated school district takes in so many surrounding communities that the school is large - more kids in school than in the town.
My school had 600 people total. LOL Anyway, it is a designated poverty area, and not much industry, so population isn’t growing. The county itself doesn’t have a big population either.
It’s about 75 miles south of St. Louis. Many people drive to the city to work, but come home to the country at night.
If shtf, it’s still too close to the city, but at least we’ll have some time to fortify before the yutes come our way.
3000 sounds just about right. Ours is too big, closer to 15,000. I think with a few thousand, you can either get to know everyone or at least know everyone who knows everyone :-)